I’ve been using YNAB (You Need a Budget) for about a year now and it remains my #1 choice for budgeting software. YNAB focuses strictly on budgeting and tracking your spending and they make it fun and intuitive. They’ve developed their own budgeting method which is comprised of 4 rules: 1) Give every dollar a job; 2) Save for a rainy day; 3) Role with the punches; and 4) Stop living paycheck to paycheck. The software is built around this method and you can learn more about the rules by visiting the YNAB website. I like YNAB because it’s easy to use and it supports the fundamental budgeting principles I share in my financial coaching work: tracking spending and zero based budgeting.
The YNAB team just announced on the YNAB Blog a new version (YNAB 4) will be released June 26th. I’ve had the opportunity to review an early release version and have been very pleased with the work the team has put into the product. The most exciting thing for me is the cloud sync feature that’s now built into YNAB. While I’ve been using DropBox to sync my budget file between computers, this version provides the ability to sync with your iPhone!
I’ve highlighted just a few of the other new features below, but you can visit the YNAB website to learn more. I’ll will be writing a review of YNAB 4 in the near future.
User Interface – the UI is definitely easier on the eyes. The text is larger and their appears to be more space between transactions to make it easier to click. Overall, there is a more clean and consistent feel throughout the software which improves workflow.
Improved Reporting – I’m pleased with what appears to be an overhaul to the reporting module. One of the things I try to do is regularly run reports for my irregular spending categories to see if my spending is staying in sync with my yearly budgeting for these categories. The report changes make it much easier to get to this data and export it.
Importing – I’m still manually entering transactions (takes me about 5 minutes per day!) but there are some improvements to importing of the bank files which keep you from importing duplicate transactions.
Autosave – Many people will appreciate the new autosave feature so you can be even more confident you won’t lose your work. This is handy as I don’t have to think about stopping and saving while I’m working.
Okay, that’s just a highlight of some of the things to come with YNAB 4. As I mentioned, I’ll be writing an updated review in the near future, but wanted to share this exciting announcement with you!
Head on over to YNAB.com to learn more.
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